Operation Diversion
by Clarixe
Summary: This is what Zen has been doing: trying to ward off potential suitors away from Shirayuki. On the other hand, the girl is oblivious on how she affects men in general. [ZenYuki one-shot]


**Author's Note**: This happened long before they confessed their feelings to each other. I suppose this is what Zen had been doing – trying to ward off potential suitors away from Shirayuki. And it's funny because the girl is oblivious on how she affects men in general. I also had this sudden free time and saw this five-month old one-shot sitting inside my WIP folder. I decided then that it is time to finish this baby and release it for everyone's enjoyment.

**Operation Diversion**

A One-shot Zen x Shirayuki Fan Fiction

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"This is unacceptable," Zen grumpily watched the red-haired pharmacist apprentice and Ryuu from the balcony of his office. "How come he gets to spend most of his time with her?"

"You can't possibly be jealous with Ryuu." Mitsuhide found the idea quite absurd. "He is only twelve."

The second prince of Clarines froze upon hearing his comment while the two aides, Mitsuhide and Kiki, approached the balcony to get a better view of Shirayuki and Ryuu. Kiki, on the other hand, remained passive yet observant. Both pharmacists were talking fondly about something while walking along the open corridors near the garden. They were both holding baskets filled with leaves and roots.

The prince decided to leave the office and follow the red-haired woman with a basket on hand and who was cheerfully talking to Ryuu about a certain medicinal plant. The twelve-year old genius pharmacist confidently replied something to her and then laughed.

"He's a child, Zen," Mitsuhide reiterated as he followed Zen behind. "I'm not pretty sure if you should be threatened by him."

"Besides," added Kiki, trying to dissuade the prince from stalking Shirayuki, "your table is already covered with a lot of paperworks."

Zen gloomily looked at Kiki, trying to tell her nonverbally not to be reminded about his pending office tasks. He thought that there was something more important than spending time cooped up inside the office. He followed the pharmacist stealthily while the other two just watched him make a fool out of himself, looking like a predator, from a distance.

Shirayuki and Ryuu then bade each other goodbye and went separate ways. This made Zen feel at ease, knowing that his agenda was finally ticked off. However, as he was about to leave, he saw some of the guards approaching his dear pharmacist friend.

"Oh, they have got to be kidding," Zen murmured and decided to continue lurking behind one of the columns near Shirayuki.

The guards stopped by and greeted the red-haired woman with their merry yet unruly voices. One of the guards thanked Shirayuki for her medicine, "my headache immediately went away after drinking the potion you gave me yesterday."

"You are welcome," the apprentice answered with a warm smile on her face, "I'm pretty sure that Ryuu will appreciate your remarks. He was the one who prepared the concoctions."

Zen tried to eavesdrop on their conversation but failed. His eyes suddenly widened when he saw one of the guards getting closer to Shirayuki. Fast-paced, he looked at Kiki and said, "do something, Kiki."

The woman remained passive, just standing right beside Mitsuhide. The other aide tried to remain poker face but unable to contain his laugh. The prince added, "please."

The woman aide sighed heavily and shook her head in disappointment. She moved towards the guards and Shirayuki. Upon seeing one of the prince's aides, the guards immediately stiffened and moved a step farther away from the oblivious royal pharmacist.

"Kiki-san," Shirayuki happily greeted the woman aide. With arms crossed together, the prince's aid simply gave the royal pharmacist a small smile as an acknowledgment. Kiki glared at the guards and they immediately took it as if they had done something punishable. One of the guards stuttered, "we are just on our way to our posts, ma'am."

"Then, I think you all should get going now," Kiki replied with a serious tone of voice. The guards immediately left, half-running and half-walking. They seemed to be scared of the woman aide.

Shirayuki watched the guardsmen scurry away and then inquired, "how's Zen?"

"Buried under piles of documents," Kiki lied nonchalantly. "I should get going since I still have some errands for the prince."

The apple-haired woman nodded enthusiastically and bade her farewell. Kiki walked away in a confident manner. The prince rejoiced with his successful plan of thwarting away the guardsmen. Mitsuhide simply shook his head and clicked his tongue.

"You can't possibly be doing this all day," he remarked. "You have tons of things to do, Prince Zen."

"Mitsuhide." Zen did not mind what he had just said, "I realized something."

The aide did not reply but remained attentive to the prince. Kiki quickly joined them, her breath a little bit jagged as she said to Mitsuhide, "went around just to return here."

"I didn't know how she spends her days inside the castle," Zen shared with vindication, "and how she copes with being surrounded by men."

"I think, she's oblivious to men's attempts to swoon her," Kiki hypothesized with a confident smiled in an attempt to persuade the prince one more time to simply ignore the buffoons and continue working. However, Zen continued to follow the pharmacist with a good distance behind. As the red-haired woman was about to turn to another hallway, she bumped into her fellow apprentice. She almost dropped her basket and the man simply tried to catch it. Upon slightly touching Shirayuki's hand, the fellow pharmaceutical apprentice blushed furiously and the prince caught this. Naively unaware of the man's flushing, Shirayuki just smiled with composure. However, the second prince seemed displeased with what he saw.

"That guy," Zen lost his wits as he watched the two pharmacists who had started to chat. "The classmate."

"Higata-san?" Mitsuhide mentioned as he joined his master in watching the two talk to each other. Kiki simply sighed, "Shirayuki already introduced him to you. He's an apprentice of Garack as well."

"What's going on, here?"

Obi appeared right beside Kiki and surprised the two. Zen blushed furiously while Mitsuhide seemed to be embarrassed to be caught stalking someone. The prince's messenger curiously looked at the trio with his narrowed eyes. The silver-haired prince simply tried to avoid his gaze while making quick glances towards Shirayuki's direction. The black-haired ex-assassin followed his quick gazes and laughed hard.

Out of fear that Shirayuki might figure their spot, Zen hurriedly hushed the ex-assassin. Mitsuhide, on the other hand, swiftly placed his hands over Obi's mouth. The second prince of Kingdom Clarines spoke in a hushed voice, "she can't know that we're following her."

Upon sensing the ex-assassin's body turned from rigid to relaxed, Mitsuhide slowly removed his hands. Scratching his head lightly, Obi laughed as he further watched the second prince and his aides lurking and observing Shirayuki and Higata.

In the middle of their conversation, Higata gathered his courage to tell Shirayuki, "Garack gave us a day off next week. Maybe we can go to the town square and enjoy our free time."

The red-haired pharmacist was surprised by her fellow apprentice's invitation. The eavesdroppers were also taken aback as well. Zen frowned and without telling Obi, his personal messenger said, "I'll take care of it for you, prince." The ex-assassin moved swiftly and silently. Before Shirayuki could have opened her mouth for an answer, Obi appeared right beside her.

"Obi," Shirayuki stuttered his name in acknowledgment despite her surprise.

"She's not interested," Obi replied with a small smile. "We are going to the town on your day off, remember?"

Shirayuki frowned a little, unable to remember such an arrangement. On the other hand, Zen watched Obi's actions and words carefully. He muttered, "good thinking, Obi."

"Zen will be very disappointed." Obi shook his head and continued, "he cleared his schedule just to be able to spend time with us."

"He did?" Shirayuki lightened and said, "yeah, I guess I forgot that we decided to go out together."

She shifted her gaze towards her fellow apprentice and apologetically said with a smile, "maybe next time, Higata-san. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry," Higata stuttered then looked at Obi. The piercing eyes of the ex-assassin crept the hell out of him. All of a sudden, he found the urge to run away from the man. Making an excuse, he said, "I should get going, Shirayuki. I'm not feeling well."

Confused about her fellow apprentice's sudden illness, Shirayuki asked out of concern, "you don't seem to be ill."

She closely inspected Higata's face for any indication of illness but the man seemed to be in perfect color and shape.

Nearby, Mitsuhide and Zen snickered like children as they watch how Obi used his fearsome look to scare the hell out of Higata. Kiki, acting as the mature one, simply sighed and shook her head lightly out of disapproval.

"It's sudden," Higata lied, stuttering. Cold sweat permeates from his forehead. In his peripheral vision, the bodyguard-slash-friend of the red-haired pharmacist is giving him the look of death. "I should get going."

Without waiting for Shirayuki's response, he gathered all his strength to run out of Obi's sight. Shirayuki wondered about Higata's sudden actions. Right on cue, Obi's face turned neutral as Shirayuki looked at him and said, "I hope what he has is something not dangerous. He should go straight to the infirmary and get checked."

"He's fine," Obi warmly smiled at her. "Probably a stomachache or something."

The personal messenger of the second prince chattered his way to the royal pharmarcist. Shirayuki either smiled or laughed responsively to his jokes and narrations. Somehow, Zen who was watching the two of them closely felt irritated. He called Mitsuhide's attention. "Do something."

Mitsuhide was about to move when Kiki called the shots. "Master, I don't think so. We have a lot of things to do."

Mitsuhide then faltered upon seeing Kiki's glaring eyes towards him. In fear, he attempted to persuade Zen. "Kiki's right. We don't have the luxury of time, Prince Zen."

Upon realization that he could no longer rely on the two, the second prince decided to show himself to Obi and Shirayuki without thinking twice. Mitsuhide planned to follow him but Kiki stopped him halfway, making a notion that he should be left alone. Zen appeared behind the young apprentice and the messenger.

"Obi," he called his personal bodyguard with irritation clearly plastered on his face. "Aren't you supposed to do something?"

"Huh?" The ex-assassin seemed to be oblivious of the second prince's implicit attempt to make him leave. "Nah, I don't have plans right now."

"Are you sure?" Zen asked Obi, this time reiterating each word. As if he had taken a hint of his superior's implicit message, Obi cheered, "Oh, yeah. I have to do something... yeah, have to do some laundry."

Obi then waved his hand to the couple and cued in, "see you guys," before leaving the two alone. Shirayuki who seemed to be enthusiastic upon meeting the second prince casually asked, "so what have you been doing lately? I assume that you've been busy with documents."

The second prince of Clarines blushed furiously as he knew for a fact that he spent most of his time secretly following the royal pharmacist around. He lied, "yeah."

"as I have heard from Kiki-san," Shirayuki warmly laughed. She then felt the urge to touch the prince.

Zen then returned her question. "How about you? What have you been doing lately?"

Shirayuki showed him her basket and said, "I'm on my way to bring this to our work room but it seems that I've been meeting a lot of people on my way."

"Really?"

"Yes," she said cheerfully, "People here are very nice towards me."

"Like men?" Zen asked nonchalantly.

Shirayuki laughed innocently. "Not only men but women as well. I'm very happy to be here."

"Is it because of the people?"

She nodded and added, "and you."

He blushed and looked at her green eyes. She continued, "you showed me how wonderful it is to live here in Clarines."

"I'm happy that you have found happiness here."

"Thank you, Zen." Her jade eyes met his light blue eyes. Without a thought, she tiptoed and placed her hand on his head. She gave her two light taps on his head. "You really work hard, Zen."

Feeling guilty, Zen was unable to look at her face. His eyes remained on the floor. Shirayuki continued, "I will also do my best and work hard."

"I know you will." Zen smiled warmly. "I'll walk you to your work room."

As the two of them started walking to their destination, Zen Wistaria pondered on the thought of halting his lurking tendencies as the woman clearly is oblivious towards men in general. In addition to that, he felt guilty that Shirayuki thinks of him as a person who doesn't take note of petty things like what he has done.

**FIN**


End file.
